


Shared Quiet

by Seethedawn



Category: Frozen (Disney Movies)
Genre: Birthday Fluff, Canon Compliant, F/M, Frozen Fever (Disney)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-21
Updated: 2020-06-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,879
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24836953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seethedawn/pseuds/Seethedawn
Summary: Anna finds some time to spend with Kristoff after the events of Frozen Fever.
Relationships: Anna/Kristoff (Disney)
Comments: 11
Kudos: 69





	Shared Quiet

**Author's Note:**

> I am reliably informed that it is Anna's birthday today! This is my contribution to the fandom's birthday celebration ♡

Kristoff hangs around and helps clean up while Anna hauls poor Elsa off home. A stream of little snowgies enter the courtyard as the Queen sneezes her way to bed. The bewildered palace staff are letting the ridiculous things run wild, Olaf egging them on all the way, so Kristoff steps in and starts corralling them toward the stables. It’s much easier now that he can use the cake as a bribe. He puts Sven in charge, with Olaf to interpret, and closes the door on the madness.

Tomorrow he’ll trek them up the mountain - Marshmallow will be glad of the company. It’ll take about a day to get up there, especially factoring in certain inevitable Olaf-shaped delays, then another day to get back. If Elsa weren’t sick he might have asked Anna to join him - a trip up the mountain in his sled, minus the snowstorm - it could have been a lot of fun. Maybe she’ll want to go some other time.

He isn’t expecting to see Anna tonight.  
It's getting late already and they've all had a long day even before Elsa got sick. It’s a shame though - it would have been nice to get to spend some time with her, but he’ll see her when he gets back.

He’s pleasantly surprised when she’s waiting at the front gate, chatting with some people from the town. He’s never going to get used to the way she seems to light up when she sees him, quickly saying her goodbyes and hurrying over.

“How’s Elsa?” he asks.

“She’s asleep, finally. Poor thing! Was she working hard all morning?”

“Yeah,” he admits sheepishly, prepared to be told off for _allowing_ his magical-Queen-slash-girlfriend’s-sister to overwork herself. As though he has the capacity to send _Elsa_ back to bed somehow. “She has been working on birthday stuff after you go to bed, then we had an early morning to get everything ready today.”

Anna gives him a _Look_ , but doesn't get into it. Instead she takes him by the hand and says, "Come on, I'm glad you're still here - I have something I wanted to show you!"

She's been dragging him all over the palace, showing him her favorite haunts; spots on the roof she could reach as she got older, tiny spaces she could hide when she was small. It's odd - to Krisotff the palace feels like a museum, he struggles to even picture it as a home for any little girl, Anna least of all.

She leads him back into the belly of the castle. Today they head downward, toward the kitchens on the seaward side. She's not in any kind of rush and he enjoys the gentle rhythm of walking together, talking as they go.

"When I was younger they would always ask what I wanted for my birthday," she says, quietly, "it became a really upsetting thing, for everyone I think, because there were years when I was younger where all I would say I wanted was Elsa. I wanted to see Elsa, I wanted Elsa to come to my birthday, and I didn't understand why - they wouldn't tell me."

He squeezes her hand. They have talked a little about Anna's parents, enough that he knows she struggles still with the idea of being angry with them. Elsa too, he can imagine.

"Once I got older, I gave up saying I wanted Elsa, and I started saying I wanted to go _out_. I said I wanted the gates to open, I wanted to visit Arendelle properly, I wanted to sail in the harbor, I wanted to see the market up close. But they still…" she sighs.

It's hard. Kristoff has been hungry in his life, at times. But he has never been _trapped_. He isn't great at finding words to comfort her, but luckily what Anna needs is for him to listen.

They’re through the kitchen now and then down one more narrow flight of stairs past a cool cellar to an old and heavy wooden door.

“I started breaking out,” she tells him, grinning at him over her shoulder. She opens the door with a well-practiced series of jiggles and shoves. Kristoff finds himself following her down a stone staircase to a grassy patch at the edge of the water. The palace looms massive above them. He has the wild thought that he hopes they aren't about to start scaling the sea-slick wall.

“I used to come here on my birthday,” she explains, “it got pretty elaborate, as I got older. I had a blanket and I would sneak chocolate from the dessert tray. It was fun, but… quiet. I thought - it would be nice to share it with you, this year.”

She seems almost hesitant, now that they are here. Uncertain. Kristoff wants to dispel that as quickly as he is able.

He steps forward right to the edge of the water and opens his arms wide, to capture the enormous view.

“It’s amazing,” he tells her. The sun is setting over the fjord, lighting the sky and the water in shades of pink. “Thank you for showing me.”

She smiles, pleased, and steps forward to meet him, tucking herself under his arm.

"Thank you for helping Elsa today."

He shrugs her gratitude away - it was no big deal. He isn't scared of Elsa these days, but it was nice to have an opportunity to help out, be useful. So much of his time at the palace is spent feeling useless. He isn't used to the feeling of being _waited on_ and he doesn't really care for it. Anna's birthday aside - he jumps at every chance to lend a hand.

"Happy to help," he tells her, and he means it. He doesn't have much he can give Anna, aside from his time.

What could he get her for her birthday that she didn't already have? Couldn't have brought to her on a whim?

She's fiddling with the stones on her new bracelet. Kristoff takes Anna’s hand in his own, he hasn’t had a chance to see it on her wrist. He remembers Elsa showing it to him, asking his opinion. Kristoff had felt almost dizzy as he held it - unfathomable value, beyond his ability to comprehend. But delicate work, beautiful and chosen with care. Elsa had been pleased that he liked it and they had moved on to the next item on the list. Kristoff was glad - Anna deserves everything.

“I’m sorry that I can’t… do things like this for you,” he admits. She takes her hand back so he isn't staring at the bracelet while she speaks. 

“I love Elsa and everything she did for me today - it all means so much. But the thing is,” she twists her wrist, the stones glimmering even in the low light, “I’m a princess. I’ve always had dresses and jewelry and portraits on my birthday. But, what I haven’t always had,” she nudges his shoulder with her own, looking up into his face, “is people to share it with.”

She always knows how to ease his insecurities. He wishes he could match it, that he could find words so easily when she needed them. 

"I know what you mean," he says, simply. She smiles sadly. They both know what loneliness looks like.

Anna leads him over to sit on the ground with their backs leaning comfortably against a water-smoothed rock. Kristoff can stretch his legs out without his feet getting wet, but he will need to stay mindful of the tide.

She's still fiddling, so he knows there is something else. He has a feeling he knows what, but he is hesitant to be the one to bring it up. Eventually, she gets her question out.

“Did you mean it, earlier? What you said? I know everything was really chaotic and we didn’t really get a chance to talk - ”

“I meant it,” he says, sure as stone.

A radiant smile breaks across her face, more beautiful than any precious stone or sunset view.

“I love you too, Kristoff,” she tells him. He seizes her and pulls her close, so her legs are across his lap and he’s cradling her close against his chest. She laughs and hugs him back. He presses his lips to the top of her head and says it again, no regret or worry or uncertainty this time. She presses her cheek to his heart and says it back, immediately.

They sit for a while like this. The sun is down now, the moon has rising over the water, and they watch the shifting reflection, listening to the gentle waves, breathing in tandem, taking in this moment.

“You know I’ve been here once before,” he says. She looks up at him questioningly. “One of the ice harvesters I worked with a few years back, he had the contract with the palace kitchen.” Kristoff laughs to himself, suddenly realizing - poor guy’s probably lost that revenue now though. “They needed more ice than usual one summer, so he asked for my help. We brought the load in by boat, rather than bringing a few carts through the center of the town. It was this door,” he gestures behind, “that was a big day for me - the palace kitchen!”

He mimes a wide-eyed _woah_ and she shoves at him lightly.

“Little did I know,” he says, and they laugh and she snuggles in closer. 

“I asked for an ice sculpture, one year,” she says, “when they asked what I wanted for my birthday. They were really weird about it, which, now I know... But, maybe it was for that. Maybe you were part of that birthday too.” She cranes her neck so she can see his face.

“Maybe,” he agrees and holds her a little tighter.

“I like that,” she announces, “I wasn’t alone, not really. I had all of this in my future and each birthday brought me a little bit closer.”

They go back to sitting together quietly. Silence _together -_ an incomparable improvement to silence _alone_. But when Anna starts to shiver Kristoff immediately gets to his feet. It’s a summer night but she’s only in short sleeves and he should have checked on her earlier to see if she was getting a chill.

“We should go back in,” he says, offering a hand to help her up. She rolls her eyes at him, but fondly, and takes his hand.

He walks with her back to the main staircase, where he hangs back to say goodnight.

“You should go check in on your sister,” he says. “Sven and I are leaving early to take the snowgies up to Marshmallow, but I’ll let you know when we get back.”

“Thank you,” she says, “it’s such a big help.”

He shrugs it away again, even though she’s made sure to look him directly in the eye this time so he feels the full force of her gratitude.

“Happy birthday, Anna,” he says, one last time. “I love you.”

She beams again and bounces up on her toes to kiss him again. It’s only been a year, they haven’t even really had their anniversary, but already Kristoff thinks he could be with her for a lifetime. For every birthday still to come. For as long as she’ll have him.


End file.
